Sister Brittany Ann Wilkins: Week 19

All sister missionaries at the church with J. :)

Hello Family!!!

Well this week has literally changed my whole entire life :) haha but we'll start with the news that I am singing at the next transfer meeting! I swear I have never sung so much in my life! Sister Baird likes to sing too so for our messages at dinners we sing a song and share a scripture! I love it because songs come from the heart and it makes people feel the spirit and cry :) haha we've also sang on a couple of doorsteps and made people cry! I am trying to type as fast as possible because I only have 40 minutes and I wanna send you some pictures! :) haha but I have to tell you about Tuesday!!!! :) So Monday night I get a call from Sister Hall telling me that her and her 2 companions Sister Packard and Sister Hardy were going to come to Steilacoom in the morning and that I was going to leave with Sister Packard and Sister Hardy! I was pumped! :) So the next morning they come to get me and oh man...It was SO much fun! Ok so we drive up to Chambers Creek and we eat lunch and then we went out and worked all day! First we taught this girl named A, she is a cute spunky Hawaiian girl that I just fell in love with! She was so real and honest with her emotions. We started talking with her and were able to find her concerns, and she just started weeping. Talking about how she knows God won't give us what we can't handle so I shared 1 Corinthians 10:13 and told her that this gospel is what makes it so you are able to bear these things. I really could feel the spirit directing the lesson, we taught her the plan of salvation and it was so spiritual/powerful Sister Packard is so sincere and loving and really believes everything she is saying and Sister Hardy is a powerhouse! Those girls are amazing! Sister Packard said something that I really liked, God is an all powerful mighty being He could have us call Him king or majesty but what does He have us call Him? Father! That really hit me because I had never thought about that before, but it's SO true! :) We have a loving Heavenly Father who is all powerful and mighty but He is our Father!! To make a really long and amazing day short we taught back to back lessons all day that were so powerful and led by the spirit! For dinner I found an amazing invention! Well 2! First of all Sister Packard puts BBQ sauce on her eggs so I decided to try it and oh my goodness! It’s amazing! You should all try it :) haha and I also tried this really healthy stuff called quinoa (spelling?) but it was so good! :) Ok but i have to tell you about our last lesson of the night. It was with a Jamaican dude named J. J. was still a little bit tipsy..haha but we gave him a church tour, Sister Packard and I had never given a church tour in that building and it was Sister Hardy's first, so before he got there we walked around the church and looked at the pictures, there wasn't really any story line with the pictures so Sister Packard said "well we'll just have to follow the spirit" so we did. But at the beginning the foyer was SO loud because the young women were shouting :) and J. could not focus! So Sister Packard said a prayer and it got quieter and quieter and you could feel the spirit more and more! So we talked about Jesus Christ a lot and what he did and then we just decided to take him into the chapel. As SOON as we walked in the spirit overwhelmed the room, which happens every time but this time I could really feel it. So we let J. sit in the chapel for a minute. We sat by him on the front row and he asked us if we could pray for his mom. So Sister Packard said another prayer and J. started sobbing! We sat in silence for a moment, then Sister Hardy shared a personal experience about her mom, and Mosiah 24:14 and then I started crying! haha but J. was so touched. He said his mom told him that if he came to the church that he would find a way to get better and be better and then he said he was coming to church on Sunday and he was just so repentant and happy to be in that chapel. So I started pouring my soul out to him, and told him to never ever forget what he was feeling at that moment. So many times we forget about the spiritual experiences that we have and we just give up on God, I've seen so many people do that and it's so sad. But J. is going to become better. I can't even express the spirit that was there in the chapel. I am not kidding out of all the spiritual experiences I’ve had in my life that one would be in the top 5. It was AMAZING. And it changed my life. This whole day changed me. Then we drove home and Sister Packard turned on my theme song! (back story: Sister Hall had this cd with the song "I am His daughter" on it, and we listened to that cd all the time first and second transfer and that was my favorite song. So when Sister Hall listened to it with her new companions they made it my theme song) And I started crying :) haha because I love that song! go look it up! :) haha Then we planned and got ready for bed and Sister Packard and I had a little heart to heart! I LOVE her! It's so amazing the friends that you make out here. Because they are grounded in the gospel and you can help each other so much more! I have made so many life long friends! But the reason why this day changed my life was not only because I had SO much fun with Sister Hardy and Packard, but because I learned so much. I learned even more how to recognize and follow the spirit, because I had no idea who these people were or what they'd been taught I had to rely completely on the spirit and I just poured my heart out to everyone I spoke to. I learned how to sincerely love everyone, and I learned that I just need to be myself. So many times in life we have all felt inadequate but if we can just be ourselves and improve every day that is adequate. We are enough. Like the words in my theme song "there's so much more to me, He helps me see that I have so much to offer, I am His daughter, He loves me the way I am, He's my strength when I stand, He is my king and my Father I am His daughter" Ah! I love it! You really are all amazing (even if you're not a daughter :) haha you are a son! ) But I can't even tell you how much this day changed me and my life! So I'm running out of time so I’ll have to sum things up but Wednesday I went back to Steilacoom and Sister Baird and I had so much energy and so much excitement for the work and we worked miracles this week! We've found a few new golden investigators and things are going SO well!!! And I've found more of an excitement and energy for this work! I love it so much!!! :) haha Thursday we went to Anderson Island and sang for the ladies in the community center which was awesome because some of them are atheist, but we got to sing them a song about their Father and hopefully helped them feel the spirit a little! So last week in my letter to president I asked him "how do we know if we are doing our best?" So friday morning he gives me a call and tells me how much he loves me and how wonderful he thinks I am and makes me cry (haha I blame you my family for these crying genes!!!) and he told me to pray about it that night. So I did, and that was another great spiritual experience. I know that God knows I am doing everything I can. It goes back to what Sister Hall taught me, All I can do + God's Grace = Eternal Life. Remember that? Well it was really good to feel that God thinks I'm trying my best and growing each day :) He gave me a few suggestions that will be good to implement in the work but He just told me to be me and love. I truly think that's all there is to it. Just be you and Love!!! That's probably the #1 thing I’ve learned out here is how to love myself and also how to love others and also how to really love God. And it makes a world of a difference! Like Sister Hall always says "just have a heart full of love and God will take care of the rest!" Aint that the truth!!! haha So then Saturday comes! J. got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was SO excited and Sister Hall and Sister Hardy got to come with Sister Chipman (they were on an exchange) and it was so awesome!!! J. is so funny she comes out in her jumpsuit and says "look guys I’m an inmate for the Lord!" haha! But she got baptized and it was so amazing! Then there was a baptism after and Sister Packard came to the church to change back and go with Sister Hall and Hardy so there were about 13 missionaries at the church! It was SO fun! Ah I loved it! Oh! So transfers are next week right? So President was at the church interviewing the lady for the baptism after oursand he came up to me and basically told me what was going to happen to me next transfer! But he's not positive yet so I’ll keep it a surprise! :D Lets just say keep the letters coming :) Ah! I can't even tell you how amazing this week has been! I will write ya'll a letter hopefully and tell you more about it! But I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support and prayers they mean the world to me!!!! :) I'm not gonna lie, going on a mission was literally the best decision of my entire life! I have learned and grown TONS and I love it so much, but I'm out of time!!!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love always

Sister Wilkins :)